Review: I don’t know if it is just me but when I am reading a series I grow to like them more and more with every next book. I’m not sure if the author is getting better or the stories, if I am just more familiar with the style and the story but it has been true for almost every series I read (where I managed to go past the second book).

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula Le Guin, the fifth book in the series, is living proof of that. And the funny part is that the books in the Hainish cycle are not even following the same storyline. In the best case scenario we have a brief mention of planets or species we know from before but other than that every book starts with new characters, new planet and new social, racial or alien issue.

Review: I think the Hainish Cycle is growing on me. After I got rid of the initial expectations of what a Sci-Fi from the ’70s should be like I actually started enjoying myself. And The Left Hand of Darkness was the peak of the series.

The longest so far, I found The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin to be a fantastic tale of a man that is thrown amid different cultures and struggles to understand them and to be understood. I love the fact that both the people of Karhide and Orgoreyn are so different in their biology and way of thinking and most of all I loved the fact that Le Guin threw unfamiliar words and concepts our way and didn’t stop to overexplain them. This allowed us to understand Genli Ai, the main character, much better; to walk in his shoes, so to speak, since we were confused and learning just as he was.

Review: Well! Here we are already on the third book of the series and finally I am excited. City of Illusions is, no doubt, the most suspenseful and well-planned book by Ursula Le Guin (in my humble opinion). I was getting kind of scared that I would be utterly disappointed by the Hainish cycle but I can see hope at the end of the tunnel.

In City of Illusions we move back to Earth, hundreds of years in the future, where people, our people, are forced to live a simple life and are afraid of advancing in any field of technology since the Shings, the Liars of Earth, the Enemy of Mankind, the bad guys, would destroy them.

Review: I started Planet of Exile by Ursula Le Guin convinced I wouldn’t like it. After all, the previous book was a great disappointment for me. Funny enough, I was surprised.

The Hainish Cycle is a series of short novels connected only by the author’s name and a few distant connections between characters and places. So essentially you don’t have to read the other books to understand this one. From one side this is awesome since every book would be expected to provide a satisfying ending and resolution of the plot. On the other side, each book is too short for me to really fall in love with the characters or the story. And I don’t get to read about them again so even if I do, I’ll be left wanting more.

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Random Quote

“I am Rand al’Thor!” he called, so his voice rang through the chamber. “I am the Dragon Reborn!”